Alphasmart 3000
I have three portable, distraction-free devices. Two are laptop thermal typewriters, which I love. But my favourite is the AlphaSmart 3000, a dinky little word processor from the turn of the millennium.
The AlphaSmart 3000 is essentially a small keyboard with an LCD screen on top. It runs on three AA batteries, which last a very long time. I've used mine for countless hours, and the battery icon still shows 3.5/4 bars.
The internal memory is capable of storing eight files, each file capable of holding the equivalent of a dozen typed pages. Since I use the AlphaSmart for drafting scenes, file size has never been an issue.
The text appears on the LCD screen as you type, four lines at a time, 40 characters per line. Unlike a typewriter, you can type and re-type and fix mistakes freely. But the small display and slow navigation also prevents you from editing too much as you write. Best of both worlds, if you ask me.
The screen isn't backlit. This means that typing in low light environments, like in bed, requires the use of a reading light. The upside is that the LCD screen looks pretty sharp in direct sunlight, so the AlphaSmart is great for writing outdoors.
When I'm done drafting, it's time to transfer the text to the computer. At first, I was really worried about this part. The AlphaSmart is basically ancient tech at this point. I thought I'd have hardware compatibility issues. Or that the device would export a file in a weird and unsupported extension.
But the AlphaSmart is surprisingly future-proof. It uses a USB-B cable to connect to the computer, which is the same cable printers still use. When you plug the AlphaSmart in, the computer recognizes it as a plain keyboard. Then, you select the file that has your draft, hit the send key, and the AlphaSmart retypes the text on whatever program you have open.
